Overview
‘Systems Thinking’ is the ability to view an organisation and the environment in which it operates as a system.
A systems-minded organisation asks questions about the larger network in which it operates and is not confined to particular parts of the system only. It understands that all enterprises are part of a larger system and that all enterprises consist of a number of sub-systems.
The organisation and the people within the organisation continuously anticipate the potential consequences of actions taken and act and behave in the best interest of the customers and stakeholders to whom it provides products and services.
Excellent organisations constantly look for improvement opportunities and engage suppliers, stakeholders and customers in the improvement process.
Benefits
Achieve synergy - optimise (not sub-optimise) organisational outputs
Achieve clarity across the organisation through effective communication
Ability to explain to all stakeholders how they contribute to the overall mission
See the “whole” rather than “the pieces”
Work on underlying causes and not the obvious symptoms
See the interrelationships rather than linear cause and effect
Distinguish between high and low leverage changes
See how ‘we’ and ‘they’ contribute to the problems we experience
See patterns of change rather than snapshots
Increase value by improving quality within available resources
Our Approach
SAI Global believes that an excellent organisation will deliver continuous improvement of the system by understanding and anticipating the potential consequences of core actions within and outside the system. The outcomes need to be understood, so that all stakeholder groups are aware of their relative impact on the overall performance of the organisation. Measuring the relative levels of desirable and undesirable outcomes that are delivered to each stakeholder group, will help your organisation identify how resource allocation can be optimised in the future to maximise the overall positive impact to your stakeholders collectively.
SAI Global understands that organisations who continually improve and develop their understanding of systems and key subsystems are able to ensure that decision-making achieves the desired outcomes to drive and deliver success and sustainability.
Using structured workshops and ongoing coaching, SAI Global can develop your organisation’s capabilities through management teams to integrate Systems Thinking into your organisational practices.
Structured Workshops
SAI Global facilitates structured workshops that deliver learning to managers through theoretical overviews of Systems Thinking and practical activities. Typically the workshop will be structured around the organisation-wide Systems View, enabling participants to contribute to its development and deliver a practical outcome from the workshop.
Coaching
Within the organisation-wide system, exists interdependent systems that interact with each other. In addition to the structured learning workshop, a SAI Global facilitator will meet with individual managers to assist in the development of their Systems View and to drive the nesting of individual systems into the whole. Please click here to learn more about our structured coaching programme.
